Topaz Products Combining the Plug - Ins

I've become a fan of mixing different plug ins and experimenting with not only those plug ins...of which Topaz is my favorite, but of also blending textures over the photos.

Here is the original photo:

Here I used the original and copied it.
Next I used Topaz Adjust to my own liking.
I copied that layer and made a layer with Topaz Detail.
Lastly I copied the Detail Layer and use Topaz Simplify.

I experimented with the opacity on each layer trying to find a good fit.

So then I entered layer masks...

I liked how the image was shaping up.  I took the Simplify layer and ran it through Topaz Clean.
However, I did not like how that came out.  So I hit the undo button and stuck with the Simplify layer, which I then masked much like the layer shows in the above sample.

[I change my mind and experiment A LOT when working with photos.]  If I don't copy down what I have done, I don't usually recall my work flow at all.

This final image was with the Simplified Layer on top, I used a mask to erase out the portions that I did not want yet to keep the bright colors and the playground equipment nice and clean looking.  This was the focal point of my image.

For fun here are a few images that I've used Textures on.  I'll be doing a blog on that very soon, as I am trying to figure out how to make great textures myself to use on photos.

 And...